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Maths-Ext 1/2 Marks Lost and Hardest Topics (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Jojofelyx
- Start date
algebra,and,arithmetic.jokes.that'sforhighband6lol.
B1andB2
oui oui baguette
personally
ext 1: binomial proofs
ext2: can't speak for many topics but i'm struggling with proofs haha
so yeah proofs for me
ext 1: binomial proofs
ext2: can't speak for many topics but i'm struggling with proofs haha
so yeah proofs for me
3U: perms and combs topic, maybe vector proofs cause some can get abstract but most 3U topics should be a breeze
4U: proof, everything else is a vibe
honestly most the marks that my friends and I lost were to either reading the question incorrectly or basic algebra mistakes lol so keep practicing to minimise those silly mistakes
How'd you do in terms of marks for both of those subjects, if you don't mind me asking?
Got 97 and 93 respectively, 4U kinda messed up a 25% internal lol but overall were probably the most fun subjects
3u: perms and combs defs, binomials too, vector proofs
4u: proofs for sure, 3D vector proofs mainly
Basically a lot of the topics that require visualisation or a lot thinking are the ones I think people lose the most marks on since either it is too hard to visualise, or since it can be so creative, you may think that your method makes sense when you are missing some fine detail, etc. The other topics are simpler and don't lose too much marks since they require the same methods which can be improved in consistency with just lots of practice (integration and mechanics especially)
4u: proofs for sure, 3D vector proofs mainly
Basically a lot of the topics that require visualisation or a lot thinking are the ones I think people lose the most marks on since either it is too hard to visualise, or since it can be so creative, you may think that your method makes sense when you are missing some fine detail, etc. The other topics are simpler and don't lose too much marks since they require the same methods which can be improved in consistency with just lots of practice (integration and mechanics especially)
B1andB2
oui oui baguette
elaborate.
not much algebra. just see what to do and it's easy lol.
B1andB2
oui oui baguette
oh yeah I forgot hsc is too easy for you
maybe 2020 hsc exam proofs was the easiest but some of those cambridge questions got me messed up
did all of them lol.
in cambridge, for proofs, the hard questions seem to generally involve making some substitution to prove something. these substitutions tend to be pretty logical. more logical than some of the tricks you do in other topics.
hard integrals for one seems to have some really random stuff sometimes, but those aren't tested in HSC I would suppose.
imo, mechanics might have room for some pretty hard stuff, because it seems that the trend is working towards an answer, but if we delete a few parts given, i.e. exclude parts A), b), C) etc. or don't include an answer to reach, it might be quite hard to see what to do. then again, i haven't covered mech so what do I know lol.
complex also has room for whacky algebra, polynomial and geometry tricks. Again, if parts of a question are excluded, it becomes very hard to see what to do.
Of course, proofs are not an exception to the fact that if we remove parts of the question people won't see what to do. But it is perhaps less likely that parts of a proof question are excluded, otherwise it would become olympiad maths.
** Vector parametric 3d graphs ---> GG lol.
hard integrals for one seems to have some really random stuff sometimes, but those aren't tested in HSC I would suppose.
imo, mechanics might have room for some pretty hard stuff, because it seems that the trend is working towards an answer, but if we delete a few parts given, i.e. exclude parts A), b), C) etc. or don't include an answer to reach, it might be quite hard to see what to do. then again, i haven't covered mech so what do I know lol.
complex also has room for whacky algebra, polynomial and geometry tricks. Again, if parts of a question are excluded, it becomes very hard to see what to do.
Of course, proofs are not an exception to the fact that if we remove parts of the question people won't see what to do. But it is perhaps less likely that parts of a proof question are excluded, otherwise it would become olympiad maths.
** Vector parametric 3d graphs ---> GG lol.
brother I expect to see you 1st in state this year
not happening m8. dr du too stronk. also @Qeru is actually scary. tho Dr Du probably still too stronk.
Yall reckon Cambridge is the GOAT for maths ext 1 n 2? because our school uses Fitzpatrick and eh idk about that tbh
probably2F>2D.
It is certainly true that questions can be made more difficult by giving less structure, but it is also true that structure can be less helpful.
On the latter, there are questions where the structure is meant to support you taking approach A when the approach that some students / people / teachers will be inclined towards instinctively is approach B. There was an MX2 question that I saw last year that I solved parts (a) and (b) and then found a proof / solution to part (d) which I used to get the result in part (c) because I didn't see the connection to go from (b) directly to (c) without establishing (d). It's better to get a solution than not (obviously) so the structure of the question doesn't necessarily have to be followed unless there are words like "hence" in the question... and on this, more able students need to recognise the unstated implication of the phrase "hence or otherwise" as it has two distinctly different potential meanings.
As for less structure, a question that was debated in my 4u class (and which we found two solutions for) on integration:
See if you can find a way to find this indefinite integral. I can make this into a reasonable MX1 question with sufficient structure, but without structure it is definitely a challenge even at MX2 level.
PS: There are some nice proof-type challenges in the questions that I posted in thread on second-order reversion... I wonder if anyone is having a go at them.
Last edited:
SplashJuice
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- 2021
Yes Cambridge is the GOAT.